This past weekend, I had the luxury of an afternoon mountain bike ride along the Tahoe Flume Trail. It was a welcomed few hours of solitude on a Saturday, thanks to an understanding wife who was willing to single parent two wild bear cubs for...
Inside this issue of WA&A, we share the assorted ways that artists and architects use their mediums to express their ideas. Materials that seem fixed — canvas, oil paint, barn wood, concrete, and stone — are transformed into images that communicate beliefs, or structures that...
“Right now, all our projects are for repeat clients,” architect Brian Tichenor remarks. “Is that true?” his partner and wife, Raun Thorp, asks, not expecting an answer. [caption id="attachment_17210" align="alignleft" width="202"] A painting by Tichenor hangs in their Los Angeles office. All photos: Roger Davies for...
Artist Earl Biss was a man driven by visions and demons. He was brilliant, charming, handsome, volatile, sometimes violent and, as his friend, Hunter S. Thompson, affectionately said, “crazy as five loons.” He was also a primary catalyst in an art movement that saw works...
His name was Gus. Throughout our afternoon hike, he never judged me or complained. I could unburden my innermost secrets, and he would be as calm as a sailboat on a windless day. Gus works for Paragon Guides, and he is a llama. Global visitors come...
Furniture designer Anne Beard finds herself inspired by absolutely everything, from fine art to her garden and her life in the remote high desert of Oregon surrounded by working ranches. Her designs vary from whimsical to ornate, from chic to rustic. “I began my life doing...
Like many little girls, Mary Ross Buchholz loved to draw and she loved horses. As a professional artist, she incorporates her childhood passions into her work. Using primarily charcoal and graphite, Buchholz’s drawings bring out the textures and characters of her subjects. Her fine attention...
Mixed-media artist Kathleen Hope approaches her abstract cement paintings from a color perspective. Through the use of industrial construction materials and the aesthetics of abstraction, Hope conveys a contemporary perspective of modern life. Her work speaks to our state of mind as well as our...
NOT MANY WORKING ARTISTS CAN CLAIM A DIRECT CONNECTION to an artform that’s hundreds of years old, but Luis Tapia continues to give new relevance to the art of the santo, revitalizing a form of Chicano religious iconography that dates to the turn of the...
THERE'S THE POSTCARD VERSION of spectacular Western American landscapes, places such as national parks, for example, that shout out, “This is beauty!” And then there’s the more common and intimate magnificence that most people drive on past. This second kind of beauty is what artist...